


In Another Life

by nerdgirlwalking



Series: In Another Life [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-22
Updated: 2015-03-22
Packaged: 2018-03-19 02:42:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3593343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdgirlwalking/pseuds/nerdgirlwalking
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nyssa knew she was about to die when she was rescued by a woman who should be dead. Next thing she knows she has been invited to join a team of adventurers from different realities including a version of her lost love. Has she been given another chance or is this Sara too different from her own?<br/>A what if tale based on the rumors of the new Arrow/Flash spinoff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Another Life

**Author's Note:**

> Being a huge Nyssa and Sara fan I am greatly intrigued by the notion of the spinoff. First, I don't buy that Caity would play anyone other than Sara on the show, not when everyone else in the cast has been announced as playing the same character (and can you just picture it if she did play someone else and Nyssa saw that character? Oh my heart!). So this is one theory as to how Sara, at least a version of her, could exist along side characters like Ray Palmer and Martin Stein. Team members were selected based on rumors and who I'd like to see hanging around the new show. Hope you all enjoy!

Nyssa Al Ghul knew that she was about to die. Fortunately, Laurel and the children they were sent to liberate from this warehouse had managed to escape. Nyssa had been a second too slow, some moronic henchmen thought throwing a bunch of grenades was a grand idea and now she found herself under a great deal of rubble. She coughed, spitting blood on to the beam currently crushing her ribcage. She closed her eyes. Shouldn’t be long now.  
  
“Nyssa,” A voice called. “Nyssa! Don’t do this. Open your eyes for me baby.” She knew that voice. She should not be hearing it here. It was a struggle but she managed to open her eyes. Worried blue eyes hovered over her. “There you are. Stay with me!”  
  
“Sara?” She was beginning to hallucinate from the blood loss. That was the only explanation for seeing her long dead lover.  
  
“Hey. Don’t talk right now…”  
  
“Sara, have you come to take me home?” She began to cough again. “I am in a bad way beloved.” The apparition seemed to choke at the term of endearment. Nyssa blinked, it was getting harder to keep her eyes open.  
  
“Don’t worry about that; just stay right here with me.” Sara looked over her shoulder at someone Nyssa couldn’t see. “Hurry up! I’m losing her.”  
  
“I have to put these fires out first or we’ll all be in bad shape Canary,” A male voice replied.  
  
“I’ve missed you so.” Sara looked down at Nyssa again and smiled. “There it is.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“The sun.”  
  
“Hey,” A gloved hand gently cupped Nyssa’s cheek. “No going into the light. Lights are bad. You stay right here.”  
  
Nyssa reached up with her one free hand and pulled Sara closer. She was remarkably solid for a figment of a dying mind. “You’re the sun,” she whispered and drew Sara down for a kiss. Soon she hoped to be kissing the real thing. It was the one positive to her death, being with her beloved again.  
  
Sara flinched as the lips beneath her own stopped moving and the hand on her cheek went limp. “No! No, no, no do not do this to me again.” She turned to the two men now working on removing the rubble from around Nyssa. “Atom, Cold. Move your ass.”  
  
“Almost got it Canary.” Sara prayed they had enough time and then snorted at the irony of that thought given why they were there in the first place.  
  
Nyssa awoke in some form of medical facility. The clock above her bed read 10:57. She felt that it was morning though the room had no windows to support that theory. “Morning, but on what day?” She muttered to herself testing her voice. She took a brief assessment of her faculties. She could move all her limbs and her pain level was far less than what it should have been based on her injuries. She felt like she could at least walk when the time came. “Morning some days later,” she amended.  
  
She looked around the room. There was nothing but assorted medical equipment and stark, grey concrete walls. A bunker perhaps? No windows and concrete walls, was she underground? Was this a prison facility? She was alone. No medical staff. No guards. But an examination of the ceiling showed at least two cameras were fixed on her position.  
  
“Curiouser and curiouser.” Perhaps she had been picked up by ARGUS or Checkmate. Another glance around the room and she determined that the IV stands could make suitable polearms until she could acquire an actual weapon. The plastic tubing would suffice as restraints should she need to secure any hostages for leverage. “Now for a way out of this room.”  
  
Before she could ponder her escape further a door she had not noticed prior slid open. “Great you’re awake.” Ray Palmer of all people strode over to her bed. “I don’t know if you remember me...” He began.  
  
“Not to be rude Mr. Palmer,” she interrupted, “But why am I here? Where are we exactly?”  
  
Ray chuckled, “Well, she was right about your reaction to being here.” He pulled a stool up along the right side of the bed. “You’re here because my team and I found you with half a roof on top of you.”  
  
Nyssa flashed to an image of a distraught Sara telling her to stay. She shook her head. No that was a hallucination, the last gasp for comfort from a dying mind. She needed to focus on the matter at hand. “And we are?”  
  
Ray grimaced and ran a hand through his hair, “That part is going to take a bit of explaining. Now this may sound crazy at first but…”  
  
Two levels up, Sara Raatko nee Lance, was having her own frustrating conversation. “It was reckless and stupid. Do you know how much damage you may have caused?”  
  
“I’m sure you’ll fill me in Rip.”  
  
“This isn’t a game Sara!” Rip Hunter replied. “The whole point of this team is to repair and prevent damage to the time stream not cause it.”  
  
“She was going to die! My wife was going to die in front of me. Again!”  
  
“She’s not your wife.”  
  
“Nyssa is…”  
  
“No! This Nyssa is not your wife. This Nyssa never married Sara Lance because her Sara died years ago. Just like this Nyssa was supposed to die in that warehouse.”  
  
“Hunter, man you’re being a dick,” Virgil Hawkins called from his position near the coffee maker. He had brought Sara up here to take a break from her vigil over their guest and to get some food, not to be lectured to by Hunter.  
  
“No one asked for your opinion kid,” Rip replied.  
  
“If you’re going to yell at Sara in a public space then you make it open to public opinion,” Virgil answered back. “I get that there could be issues but aren’t we supposed to be about saving lives. Even if she weren’t Sara’s lady we shouldn’t have just left her there to die.”  
  
“She was supposed to die.”  
  
“You sound like a broken record Hunter,” Yolanda Montez, the other occupant of the room added.  
  
“No one is destined to die just because your smart watch says so,” Sara jumped back in. “I’m just supposed to sit there and watch Nyssa die again and do nothing because the great Rip Hunter says so? Hell no!”  
  
“I don’t get what the issue is anyway,” Yolanda said subtly moving closer to Sara and Rip. She thought Hunter deserved it if Sara decided to knock him on his ass but she didn’t want to see Sara do anything more than that and regret it later. If she were closer she could step in before things got too messy. She eased her way around a couple of tables. “So she died in that time line and thus doesn’t exist there anymore. We pulled her from that warehouse and out of the timeline just before she would have died. She’s here not there so technically she no longer exists there anymore so it’s all the same right?”  
  
“Whatever you just said makes my brain hurt,” Virgil groaned.  
  
Rip sighed, “It’s not that simple. What if she wants us to put her back? We can’t drop her off as if nothing happened.”  
  
“Obviously she stays here with us.”  
  
“Here with you, you mean,” Rip snapped at Sara. “We are not a dating service. What were you even doing in that part of the city anyway? This is why I didn’t want to send you. I knew you’d be too emotionally involved to be objective should you come across her.”  
  
“Didn’t peg you for a homophobe Hunter.” Virgil called.  
  
“What?” Rip sputtered. “That’s not what this is about. The fact that the woman is still alive is a danger to the time stream, which is all this is about.”  
  
“So she stays here, end of.”  
  
“We need to be ready to take steps if she doesn’t want to stay.”  
  
“What are you saying?”  
  
“She can’t go back. If she asks to be returned we’ll have to consider…”  
  
Sara got right in Rip’s face. “I’ll kill you first.”  
  
“Hey,” Yolanda pulled Sara back and wedged herself between the pair, “No one is going to hurt your girl.” She looked over her shoulder at Rip. “Right Hunter?”  
  
Rip sighed and raised his hands. “No one wants to. I’m just talking hypotheticals here.”  
  
“Stop talking then,” Sara snapped. “I owe you Rip but I don’t owe you that much.”  
  
“All this is conjecture anyway,” Virgil pointed out. “You’re assuming Nyssa wouldn’t want to stay once everything has been explained to her. Who would knowingly want to go back and potentially jack the universe up?”  
  
“And what if it’s too hard to be around a woman who looks just like her dead lover?” Rip turned to Sara. “What if it’s too hard for you?”  
  
“You don’t have to worry about me Rip. I’m a big girl.”  
  
“Sara, you think that now but I don’t think this will be easy for either of you. I don’t want to hurt her but I also don’t want to lose you.”  
  
“Just give her a chance when she wakes up. She deserves a chance to try.”  
  
Ray popped his head into the room. “She’s awake! She wants to see you,” Sara started towards the door, “Rip. She wants to see Rip.”  
  
He signaled he needed a moment to Ray. “Sara, I promise I will try to make this work.” He laid a tentative hand on Sara’s shoulder. She nodded. Knowing that was the best he was going to get Rip gave her shoulder one last squeeze, turned and walked out of the room. Ray mouthed “sorry” at Sara and then ran after him.  
  
“You okay girl?” Virgil asked.  
  
Sara shook her head. “Of course. She’s awake.” It made sense really. Nyssa would ask for the one in charge. Didn’t make it sting any less though.  
  
“So Nyssa is it?” Rip started as he walked into her room. Ray followed closely behind him.  
  
“Let us not begin on the wrong foot Mr. Hunter. You very well know who I am; you are a so called Time Master after all,” Nyssa replied. Rip looked puzzled as to how she already knew these things. “Mr. Palmer has been most informative.”  
  
Rip glared at Ray who shrugged. “She has a right to know.”  
  
“I hate all of you today.” Rip mumbled under his breath though both Nyssa and Ray still heard him.  
  
“Day ending in y and all that,” Ray slapped him on the back. “You’ll get over it. You always do.” He looked at Nyssa. “Are you okay alone with him?”  
  
“The question, Mr. Palmer, is if he shall be alright alone with me.”  
  
Ray laughed, “We’ll take our chances.” He nodded towards the door. “I’ll be in observation with Dr. Hoshi.” He stepped through the door. “Go easy on him; he’s having a bad day.” With that the door sealed shut behind him.  
  
Rip took a seat on the stool Ray had previously moved beside the bed. “Okay yes, Nyssa. What exactly has Ray told you?”  
  
“That I am being held in a secret facility outside the normal flow of time. That while on a mission, members of your team encountered me severely injured and brought me here for treatment.”  
  
Rip noted that Nyssa’s speech wavered a bit when mentioning members of his team. But as she hadn’t specifically named Canary just yet, he’d deal with more pressing issues fist. “Did he also mention that your wounds should have been fatal?”  
  
“That I gathered on my own Mr. Hunter. I am a student of anatomy. I find it a useful area of study.”  
  
“I guess so in your previous line of work.”  
  
“Quite.”  
  
“So you understand I have a mess on my hands here.”  
  
“Ah yes what to do with the dead woman.” Rip nodded.  
  
“Tell me Mr. Hunter, where did the members of your team come from? Mr. Palmer disappeared from my world four years ago. He was presumed dead at the time. I know at least one member of your team is quite dead in my experience.”  
  
“Alternate time lines,” Rip replied. “Sometimes I encounter individuals who have been displaced in time due to the actions of those I’ve pledged to work against. They’ve essentially run out of time in their own worlds but remain useful to my ends.”  
  
“Then your solution is simple.”  
  
“Is it?”  
  
“Yes, I am out of time yet remain. I am certain you are aware of who I am and what I can do. Would a woman of my skill not be useful to your ends?”  
  
“Well, yes but…”  
  
“I assure you I am willing to work with you.”  
  
“It’s not that. You know the elephant in the room. That team member who is dead in your experience? Sara. You love her, at least a version of her. Can you really work side by side with a woman who walks and talks like your Sara but who is not her? Who may not want this version of you? Can she do the same? She’s already lost a version of you once.”  
  
Nyssa grimaced at the thought of her beloved suffering the same pain of loss she had these many years. The thought only strengthened her resolve to remain however. “I understand that you do not know me Mr. Hunter but you insult Sara Lance. If she is remotely like my Sara, and I wager she is as she brought me here at great risk to herself and your team in order to save my life, then she is more than capable of doing what is necessary. As am I.”  
  
“Raatko.”  
  
“Pardon?”  
  
“You called her Sara Lance. Her name is Sara Raatko.”  
  
“Ah, I find myself envious of a dead woman.”  
  
“This is the sort of thing I’m talking about. The Sara here made different choices, some you might not be ready to hear.”  
  
“Well, should you find that the arrangement fails to meet your expectations there are ways for me to become lost in the shuffle as it were are there not?”  
  
Rip checked the IV lines going into Nyssa’s arm. “What meds do they have you on? You do realize what you’re saying?”  
  
“As I said I am willing to do what is necessary. Accidents happen in your work, I’m sure. Sara need not know.”  
  
“That might just kill her after she kills me.”  
  
Nyssa smiled, “Then I shall endeavor to be the best solider you’ll ever have for Sara’s sake.”  
  
It took Nyssa another two weeks after waking up before she was cleared to leave the medical wing. Though she assured her doctors that she was perfectly capable of leaving her bed the very day she woke up Dr. Hoshi decided to err on the side of caution and common sense and decided a more standard waiting period was in order. Well standard for those with access to 23rd century medical technology.  
  
The question was what Nyssa would do for accommodations. She had been brought here with nothing but the armor on her back which according to the ever helpful Mr. Palmer had been so damaged that they had thrown it into the nearest incinerator. Mr. Palmer had assured her that the team was all granted very nice living quarters in the Hub, which was the highly original name of this base, and hers were already stocked with some necessities awaiting her arrival.  
  
Today was her first meeting with Yolanda, her tour guide for the station. Ms. Montez was apparently related to Ted Grant, Laurel’s first mentor in the field of vigilantism. In Ms. Montez’s world she took over the mantle of Wildcat after Ted suffered a serious injury. Nyssa wondered if there was a Yolanda in her old world. She had already taken Nyssa by the dining hall. “We all take turns with meal prep but watch out on Sara’s night. Well, I guess you already knew that.” She did indeed, what little cooking that was done in their home in Nanda Parbat had been by her hand. There was a reason Sara practically lived on Big Belly Burger when she was in Starling City. Next stop was an impressive training center. Then there were two hangars worth of vehicles. This was followed by a bevy of science labs. Nyssa waved to Mr. Palmer and the man she knew to be Professor Martin Stein. The pair called out a greeting before going back to examining some glowing purple stone. “Don’t mind them they get kind of caught up in their science-y stuff.”  
  
“I took no offence Ms. Montez.”  
  
“I told you call me Yolanda. Ms. Montez makes me feel like I’ve been called to the principal’s office or something.”  
  
“Was that a common occurrence then?”  
  
“Oh she’s got jokes.”  
  
“I assure you I can be quite pleasant.”  
  
“Oh I’ve heard,” Yolanda replied.  
  
Nyssa didn’t have to guess whom Yolanda had heard that from. Though the Sara of this place had yet to speak to her. She didn’t suppose she could blame her. The thought of being near a Sara who didn’t feel as she did was frightening to Nyssa. She didn’t like the feeling.  
  
“So this is your place,” Yolanda gestured to a door marked 213. “Bio scanner has already been loaded with your palm print.” She pointed to a black glass panel mounted next to the door. “If you’d do the honors.” Nyssa placed her right hand on the panel and after a moment the door slid open.  
  
They entered a small living area. The room smelled lightly of cinnamon. Two deep red couches faced each other creating a small conversation space. Next to them a bookcase ran floor to ceiling and was stuffed with books. Nyssa noted the titles on the books’ spines were an assortment of English, French and Arabic. On the opposite wall a large flat screen of what Nyssa assumed to be a television was mounted at shoulder height.  
  
“So you have the sitting area here. A kitchenette is over there for those nights you don’t feel like watching Virgil wolf down his food. We’ve stocked up a bunch of tea and some other stuff we thought you’d like in there for you.” Yolanda then gestured to a small hallway, so Nyssa began to follow her in that direction. “This first door is the bathroom. They made me pick up some fancy organic shampoo to put in there along with the standard necessities. Here’s the bedroom.” She opened the door to that room and stepped in. Here the color palate was blue. The bed was piled high with pillows of varying shades to match the deep blue comforter beneath them. “Closet is over there.” Nyssa glanced in and saw various pieces of the type of casual wear she favored when off duty as well as a selection of more formal attire. A variety of shoes sat on racks beneath the hanging clothes. Those she would certainly try on later. After she left the league, she gained a certain appreciation for a nice pair of heels. She couldn’t help but laugh at a lone fedora sitting on its own on a middle shelf.  
  
“This is wonderful,” Nyssa said looking back at Yolanda.  
  
“Wait, I haven’t shown you the best part.”  
  
“What else could there be?”  
  
Yolanda smiled and stepped back into the hallway. She pointed at a door across from the bedroom. “Your armory.”  
  
Nyssa smiled, “You are correct; you did leave out the best part.” She moved towards the room. Inside, directly across from the door, she found a large table covered in everything she would need to fashion at least three new bows and a bevy of arrows. Two empty quivers hug off the table’s far corner. To her right there was a rack of small throwing knives. Another rack beneath it held two scimitars with scabbards. She assumed the cupboards below held more weaponry.  
  
She turned. To her left there were two equipment lockers. They were closed but from the looks of things she couldn’t wait to discover what lay within them. A mannequin tucked into a small alcove between them was fitted out with what resembled a more high tech version of her old armor. “Mr. Palmer’s work?”  
  
Yolanda shrugged, “He likes to tinker. We kept everything red and black as that’s apparently your signature look.” Nyssa nodded. “The suit is wired to send biometric feedback here to the hub when you’re out in the field that way they can watch us for any medical issues from broken bones to temporal psychosis.” Nyssa raised an eyebrow at that but let Yolanda continue. “This armor is made with a Kevlar and neoprene blend so it will be as flexible as your leathers but a bit better at stopping knives and bullets than your old outfit.”  
  
“But how does it handle buildings being dropped on a body?”  
  
“You’ll have to ask Ray about that one.” She gestured to the outfit’s hood and a set of what looked to be sunglasses resting on the mannequin’s face underneath it. “Comm system is wired into your hood; you can send and receive without having to do anything special. The glasses are here since you don’t wear a mask like most of us. Cold has something similar. They, and I quote, offer an extra measure of identity concealment as well as giving you access to a heads up display of any tactical or targeting info while in the field.”  
  
Nyssa was slightly offended. “I need no technical assistance in order to hit my target.”  
  
Yolanda laughed, “A little birdie said you’d say that.”  
  
Nyssa smiled, “I’ll have to thank Mr. Palmer for all of this.”  
  
“Well, Ray designed the new suit but Sara took care of everything else, from the books in the sitting area to the component parts for your bows.”  
  
“She did?” Nyssa’s heart couldn’t help but flutter a bit at that.  
  
Yolanda nodded and stepped closer to Nyssa as if she were about to impart some great secret. “Look I know what it probably looks like, what with her not stopping by to visit, but Hunter and Professor Stein have been on her ass about giving you time to adjust. You don’t know me but please trust me when I tell you that she wants you here.”  
  
Nyssa nodded but said nothing. What she wanted to say was not meant for Yolanda any way. But would this Sara want to hear it?  
  
“Umm,” Yolanda cleared her throat. “We, the team I mean, want you to stay. I definitely think we need more women around here. Cold hates everyone but even he sees the tactical advantage of having you on the team. Ray is just itching to talk to you about the last four years in your world. Virgil is excited to train with a real ninja assassin.”  
  
Nyssa chuckled, “He does know how Sara and I met? That she has similar training? Or is that story different?”  
  
“I don’t think so,” Yolanda began to tell a much abbreviated version of Sara’s story. “Sara hooked up with her sister’s guy, and then she almost got killed in a shipwreck. Got kidnapped by a boat full of crazies, got rescued by said guy. Ran around an island for a bit. Almost got drowned by another crazy fighting the first band of crazies, and then you appeared like an angel and swept her off her feet to take her to a life of slightly less danger and intrigue…sound about right?”  
  
Nyssa smiled at the fact that it seemed much of her and Sara’s story remained the same. While she would always ache for the pain Sara had suffered on the island she would eternally be grateful that that accursed place brought them together no matter what world they existed in. “So Virgil thinks I’m more of a challenge than Sara?”  
  
“Guess so.”  
  
“Perhaps, I will have the opportunity to show him just how much of a challenge I can be sometime.”  
  
That opportunity presented itself a few weeks later. Virgil and Sara were sparring in the training room. “Come on girl I know you can do better than that.” He called after one of his static electric blasts managed to take Sara off of her feet. When he was only fourteen, Virgil was caught in a blast of experimental chemicals which gave him the ability to control and manipulate electromagnetic fields. In the five years since he had mastered that ability if he did say so himself. With his powers he could fire off blasts of energy and even levitate himself on small metallic disks. Rip said that Virgil tended to rely too much on his powers in the field, thus began his weekly training runs with other members of the team. Usually, he wasn’t allowed to use his powers during these sessions but Sara always told him to go full out. It was probably why she was his favorite. That and Yolanda tended to scratch up his clothes, damn cats and their claws.  
  
“Which one of us just got back from a mission?”  
  
“Oh so you’re tired? Do you need a little nap?” Virgil laughed. He powered down and began to lower himself to the ground.  
  
“Nope,” Sara replied.  
  
“Then why the excuses girl?”  
  
“So you’d stop paying attention for a second.”  
  
“Wha…” Virgil began to ask when suddenly a foot came up to meet his face and knocked him on his backside. “Damn it.”  
  
“You should always be mindful of your surroundings kid.” Sara laughed. She offered her hand to help him up.  
  
“Yeah, yeah.” He took her hand and stood. “I need some water before you kick my tail again. You want anything?”  
  
“Nah, I’m good. Go get your snack you big baby.”  
  
“Just for that, I’m not brining you back a cookie.”  
  
Sara shook her head as he jogged from the room. He was a good kid. Hopefully these lessons would help him to have the time to grow into a great man. Glad for the quick break she walked over to the bench were she had placed her things when they got into the room and picked up a towel to wipe her face. She wasn’t kidding about being a little tired. Since Nyssa had woken up she had taken every mission Rip would allow her to go on in order to give the other woman the space Rip and Martin demanded she should have.  
  
But damn was it hard. She knew the woman wasn’t quite her Nyssa but she longed to just talk to her. She knew she sounded the same. She certainly kissed the same. And from what Yolanda told her of when she took Nyssa to her quarters she appreciated the small details Sara had added to her rooms. She was comforted by the same things. Maybe they could…  
  
A noise from the rafters caused Sara to look up. She noticed the smallest bit of red silk dangling down. “I don’t think you’ve been cleared to use your silks yet,” She called. The cloth was pulled out of sight. When there wasn’t another form of reply she walked closer to where she had seen the tiny flash of red. “You aren’t stuck up there are you? If you are I can have Virgil float up there and bring you down when he gets back.” This time what sounded like a small “hrrump” sounded from on high.  
  
“So Yolanda made churros and even though you cheated I brought you one.” Virgil said as he walked back into the room. “What you looking at?”  
  
Suddenly, a length of red silk shot to the floor between them bringing with it one Nyssa Al Ghul. “The hell?” Virgil cried as he stumbled back in surprise.  
  
Rising from the crouch she landed in, Nyssa tapped Virgil on the cheek. “As Sara said you should be more mindful of your surroundings Mr. Hawkins.” She took one of the churros from Virgil’s hands and took a bite. She looked at Sara, “These are rather good.” Glancing back at Virgil she said, “Would you be a dear and take that silk down and back to my room? I think I’m going to see if Yolanda can teach me how to make these.” With that she strutted from the room.  
  
Sara laughed at the dumfounded expression on Virgil’s face. She took the other churro from him and began to eat. After a few minutes of watching him stare blankly after Nyssa she snapped her fingers near his face. “Hey, Earth to Virgil. Hello, anybody home in there?”  
  
Virgil turned to Sara. “I can see why you married her. She’s just as devious as you are.”  
  
After what Virgil dubbed the great churro robbery, Sara and Nyssa began to interact more. Small hellos were exchanged while coming and going from the training rooms. They’d sit at the same table during meals, typically joined by Yolanda and Virgil who had both taken a liking to Nyssa. Sara was grateful the pair was making an effort to help Nyssa feel welcome. But the thing she was most grateful for was that she and Nyssa began to speak more and more. Just little things like their thoughts on a new combat technique, or an adjustment to a piece of armor. Or how Ray kind of looked like Superman if you tilted your head and squinted a bit.  
  
Nyssa still wasn’t cleared for field work. Sara didn’t mind as she’d cocoon the woman in bubble wrap and keep her locked in her rooms for all time just to keep her safe. Nyssa however chafed at her continued confinement. How was she to keep Sara safe if she could not go out into the field with her? This all came to a head one Wednesday afternoon.  
  
Sara sat bundled in several blankets as she spoke with Yolanda while she prepped things for dinner in the dining hall. “Can you believe they wanted me to stay in the medical wing for observation?” She sniffled and then sneezed.  
  
“Yeah that’s crazy, you seem totally fine.”  
  
“Right? So I got slightly blasted by Cold’s freeze ray and then fell in a river. I’m the freaking Canary, I can take it.”  
  
“Oh yeah. Your kung fu grip keeps you impervious to freezer burn.”  
  
“You’re sarcasm is not appreciated Yo.”  
  
“Then why did you choose to come hang out with me?” Yolanda laughed.  
  
“Because the medical wing is boring!” Sara replied pulling the blankets tighter around her body.  
  
“Don’t take this the wrong way but after being gone a few days I thought you’d want to go see Nyssa.”  
  
“She is training with Virgil. Didn’t want to interrupt.”  
  
“Has he managed to tag her yet?  
  
Sara smiled and snagged a carrot from Yolanda’s cutting board. “Nope,” She beamed with pride.  
  
Yolanda set down her knife and turned to look at Sara, “So are you ever going to be ready to talk about this?”  
  
“Talk about what?”  
  
“The fact that you’re completely smitten with Nyssa.”  
  
“What? I’m…she’s…we’re not…oh crap. This is bad right?”  
  
“Why would it be bad?”  
  
“Because she’s not my Nyssa, not really.”  
  
“She could be.”  
  
“Wouldn’t that be like cheating?”  
  
“Why? Would your Nyssa want you to be alone for the rest of your life?”  
  
Sara tilted her head in thought, “Probably, she didn’t like to share.” She laughed.  
  
“Is it really sharing though? The Professor and Hunter can talk all they want about alternate universes and infinite choices and all that crap but essentially the core of each of us is the same no matter what.”  
“You think so?”  
  
“From what I’ve seen out there yeah. Maybe a person from world A makes different choices than their counterpart from world B but as Virgil would say if someone way deep down in their soul is a dick they’re always going to be a dick, no matter what world they come from.”  
  
“So what you’re saying is there’s no hope for Rip huh?”  
  
Yolanda threw a carrot at Sara, who caught it in her mouth. “None what so ever, but maybe just maybe there’s some hope for you and your girl.”  
“I don’t know.”  
  
“Never will unless you try.”  
  
“Never get turned down that way either.”  
  
Yolanda snorted, “You really think she’d turn you down if you walked up to her right now and said my bed, let’s go?”  
  
“Yes, maybe, I don’t know.” Sara sneezed loudly. “Damn maybe I am a little sick.”  
  
“Hmm maybe.” Yolanda reached out and touched Sara’s forehead. “You are a little warm.”  
  
“That’s funny because I still feel like a Canary-cicle.”  
  
“Well there you go. Go ask Nyssa if she wants to take a lick.”  
  
Sara laughed, “Hey, we’re classier than that.”  
  
“I may believe Nyssa is but you,” She looked Sara up and down. “No way.”  
  
Sara sneezed again. “Oh I am so kicking your ass once I thaw out.”  
  
“Why do you need to thaw out?” A voice called from the doorway.  
  
“Oh hi Nyssa, Sara and I were just talking about you.”  
  
Sara glared at Yolanda, “About how much you like a good pot roast. Yay pot roast.” She sneezed again.  
  
Nyssa walked further into the room. “Sara, why are you wrapped up like a blanket mummy?”  
  
“Oh well, you see it’s um...”  
  
“Cold accidentally clipped her with one of his shots and she fell into a river.” Yolanda happily supplied. Sara kicked her under the counter.  
  
“Pardon?”  
  
“Yeah funny story,” Sara sneezed again. “I’ll be fine. We will all laugh about this at dinner. Silly Sara, Canaries can’t swim and all that, ha ha!”  
  
“I see,” Nyssa muttered and turned to leave the room.  
  
Sara stood up to follow her not liking the tone of her voice. “Hey wait. Where are you going?”  
  
Nyssa turned and pointed to the stool Sara was previously sitting on. “You stay right there, I will return in a moment.”  
  
“Someone’s in trouble,” Yolanda teased.  
  
“Seriously, kicking your ass later.” Which would have sounded far more threatening had Sara not begun yet another sneezing fit.  
  
“Bring it tweety.”  
  
“Oh it’s on kitty litter.” They smirked at each other as Yolanda continued her work. Their next sparring session in the training room should be fun.  
  
The two waited in relative silence as Yolanda finished the prep on dinner and Sara continued to sneeze. After about ten minutes Nyssa returned with a steaming mug between her hands. She sat it in front of Sara. “You will drink all of that and then go take a nap. Yolanda will wake you for dinner if you feel up to it.”  
  
“Nyssa I hate this stuff. You know I…”  
  
“Why do I have to baby sit the…  
  
The pair began to protest but Nyssa silenced them with a glare. She pointed to the mug and then at Sara. “Every. Last. Drop.” She then turned to Yolanda. “I am appointing you her warden if she doesn’t drink her tea and then go along quietly for her nap I will hold you responsible.” Yolanda gulped and nodded resigned to her new duties. The woman was kind of scary. “Very good.” Nyssa replied and left again as suddenly as she first appeared.  
  
“You never had a chance with her did you?” Yolanda turned to ask.  
  
“Not when she got like that no,” Sara replied and took a sip of her tea. Her face scrunched up in disgust. “Crap, that’s just as bad as I remember.”  
  
Later that evening though Sara had to admit that the fowl taste of the tea was its only drawback. After drinking the entire mug and taking a nap she felt worlds better than she had that afternoon. She would never tell Nyssa that though. The woman was crazy enough about her herbal remedies it wouldn’t do to encourage her too much. She smiled over at Virgil and Yolanda who were enjoying their dinners. She pointed to her plate with her fork. “This is really good Yo.”  
  
“I’m surprised you can even taste it the way you sounded this afternoon.”  
  
Sara shrugged, “I told you I was fine.”  
  
“Uh huh,” Yolanda didn’t believe that for a second.  
  
“Okay so maybe Nyssa’s nasty tea helped a little bit.”  
  
Virgil looked up from his food. “Where is your old lady anyway?”  
  
“Virgil we’ve been over this Nyssa and I aren’t a thing.”  
  
“Potayto, potatoe…” Virgil replied. “If it quacks like a duck.”  
  
“Too many metaphors dude,” Sara shook her head.  
  
“Please I’m a wordsmith girl. Just one of my many, many charms.”  
  
“Raatko.” Captain Cold called limping over to the table.  
  
“What the hell happened to you?” Yolanda asked getting a good look at him. The man’s left arm was in a sling and his face was covered in bruises. She turned to Sara, “You didn’t say Cold got beat the hell up while you were on that trip down the river.”  
  
“He didn’t,” Sara replied. Cold was just fine the last time she saw him in their mission debrief.  
  
“No I did not,” Cold added. He turned to Sara, “Okay you got back at me for my slight miscalculation. Now call off your guard dog.”  
  
“What the hell are you talking about Frosty?”  
  
“Your girlfriend, not girlfriend, wife or whatever just kicked my ass up one side of the training room and down the other.” He raised his sling slightly as if they needed additional evidence. “I humbly apologize for my slight targeting error and your subsequent trip in to the river. Please forgive my incompetence.” He said as if repeating lines from memory. “Now tell her to back off.” With that he turned and limped his way from the room. The trio at the table had the good graces to wait until he was out of earshot before they began to laugh.  
  
Rip came in to the dining hall just as their laughter finally died down. “Sara, may I have a word?” There was something cautious about his tone, as if he was about to give out some bad news. He gestured to the door, “In private?” He didn’t wait for her reply to start leaving the room.  
  
“Uh sure,” Sara replied standing up. Yolanda glanced between Sara and Rip. She caught Sara’s eye. “Later,” Sara mouthed to her unspoken question. She would definitely fill Yolanda in on whatever the hell this was later. She followed Rip through the door.  
  
They walked up a level to the small conference room Rip preferred for team briefings. “I saw Leonard on my way in to the dining hall. I assume he spoke with you about how he got his injuries?”  
  
Sara sighed. Was he going to be an ass about this? “Look Rip.”  
  
He held up a hand to stop her. “Yes or no?”  
  
“Yes, he told us what happened.”  
  
“So you understand that if Nyssa is capable of doing that amount of damage to Captain Cold then she’s ready for bigger things?”  
  
“What like training runs? She’s been working with Virgil already.”  
  
“Like field work. Dr. Hoshi has already given her medical clearance.”  
  
Sara felt like her heart was going to punch its way out of her chest at the thought. “No, it’s too soon.”  
  
“It’s been months Sara. It makes no sense to wait any longer. Nyssa has to sink or swim at this point.”  
  
“But,” Sara started. She wasn’t ready for this. She needed more time.  
  
“Nyssa becoming a functioning member of the team was a condition of her being able to remain here. You know that.”  
  
Sara nodded but didn’t say anything. What could she say? She knew this was always the plan but it didn’t make it actually happening any easier to deal with.  
  
“Nyssa has already been briefed.” He pointed at an open file on the table. “She’ll be going out with Wildcat and Atom tomorrow.”  
  
“Wait, what about me?”  
  
“You’re still on a hold from Medical for another two days. Dr. Hoshi was worried you’re not getting enough downtime lately and that was before you took a tumble into a half frozen river. ”  
  
“What? I took a nap and drank some magic tea. I’m fine. I could help Nyssa acclimate.”  
  
“Are you going to be a problem Sara?” His tone told her the only answer he’d accept at this point.  
  
She shook her head, “No, sir.”  
  
“Good. Get some rest. Have some faith in your teammates and Nyssa for that matter.” He turned and left her alone in the room.  
  
“I do,” she whispered, “I just know that we have terrible luck.” She shook her head. She had to talk to Nyssa, tonight. She made her way towards the residential level.  
  
Unfortunately, she bumped into Yolanda first. “Hey what was up with Hunter earlier?”  
  
“He’s sending Nyssa out with you and Ray tomorrow.”  
  
“Cool!” Yolanda did a little hop in excitement. Had this been any other day Sara would have given her so much shit about it.  
  
“Not cool,” Sara grumbled. “It’s too soon.”  
  
“Girl, I’m sure Dr. Hoshi gave her the greenlight. After what she did to Cold, clearly it’s past time for your woman to get on the job.”  
  
“No, you don’t get it Yolanda.”  
  
“Enlighten me then.”  
  
“I’m not ready for this.”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
Sara ran her hands through her hair in frustration. “Yeah, oh.”  
  
“Okay, granted I’ve never been in your unique position but I get it.”  
  
Sara snorted, “Right.”  
  
Yolanda didn’t let her obvious sarcasm deter her in the slightest. “You’re scared shitless something bad is going to happen if you’re not there. I got news honey if bad things are meant to happen they’ll happen no matter where you are.”  
  
“You think I of all people don’t know that?”  
  
“Sara.”  
  
“When I found her broken and bleeding in that warehouse I thought I can save her this time. I did everything I could to get her out. I broke pretty much every rule I signed on for when Rip brought me into this thing, for her. To make sure she’d be okay. When she woke up I was so happy. Something good actually had come back into my life through all of this. But good things never last for me. Guess I don’t deserve them to.”  
  
“Hey, that’s not true.”  
  
“Yes it is. I couldn’t keep her safe before. And now she’s going to jump head first into harm’s way to prove a point just like she’s always done. What if something goes wrong? What if something goes wrong and I’m not there? She can’t do this…”  
  
“Do you truly think so little of me?”  
  
“Nyssa,” Sara breathed.  
  
“That’s my queue to bounce.” Yolanda quickly made herself scarce.  
  
“Answer the question Sara,” But Nyssa charged on before she could get a word in edgewise. “Do you think me incompetent? What was the point of brining me here if you thought I couldn’t become a suitable team member?”  
  
“That’s not what I’m saying.” Sara finally answered but it was as if Nyssa didn’t hear her.  
  
“Do you think me a failure? She died protecting you. I couldn’t do the same.”  
  
“No, why would you even say that?”  
  
“I suppose I don’t measure up. My Sara couldn’t bring herself to stay in the League for me. Even when she eventually returned she was taken from me so quickly. I must be deficient somehow.”  
  
“Nyssa,” That was the absolute last thing Sara thought. She reached out, but the brunette had turned her back to her.  
  
“It doesn’t matter.” Nyssa shook her head, “I am accompanying Yolanda and Mr. Palmer tomorrow. I may not be your Nyssa but I honor my debts. Forgive my outburst. I’ll trouble you no further.” She turned and walked away.  
  
Sara stood there stunned. “What the hell just happened?”  
  
Sara spent the next three days repeating that question over and over in her mind among many others. How had she missed this? Why hadn’t Nyssa said anything to her before? Well, honestly she knew the answer to that one. “It’s not like I was in a hurry to bring it up either.” Sara sighed and cranked up the speed on the treadmill. She thought a good sweat might help her sort this mess out in her head.  
  
She never spoke of their shared past because, honestly, she didn’t know how to bring it up. Sara read the files. She knew exactly where her path and the path of Other-Sara had diverged. Frankly, she was angry at her other self. How could she just walk away from the love of their life without a word like that? Still Nyssa comes for her when every code she had been raised to follow said that The Canary was all out of chances and what does Other-Sara do then, she turns away from Nyssa again. Granted, it did seem like Nyssa went a little crazy in her absence. Ra’s didn’t raise his girls to be able to handle their emotions in normal ways. Nyssa’s actions: poisoning Laurel, beating up Roy, and kidnapping her mother, weren’t exactly hearts and flowers and Baby Come Back on the stereo. Yet if Nyssa had truly wanted them dead they would have been. Nyssa released her from the League. No one gets released from the League. Technically, Sara was still a member now. Yet Other-Sara eventually went back. And then she somehow let Thea Queen of all people get the drop on her and she died. She left Nyssa alone again. The hell is she supposed to do with that?  
  
Sara was ashamed for the path her other self didn’t take. The path that led her here; that gave her another chance to build a life with Nyssa. She didn’t even know how to begin to talk to Nyssa about that. Because she didn’t talk about it Nyssa assumed that the fault lay with her. Of course she did. When Nyssa encountered a problem she filled it full of arrows until it died or submitted. When she thought the problem was herself; Nyssa was even more merciless. Self-recrimination for Sara’s sake was the most Nyssa course of action ever. She never saw the weakness in her beloved. God help her, but Sara loved her for it. But clearly this Nyssa was just as clueless about her finer qualities as hers was. How could a woman be so damn noble yet unable to recognize that nobility for the blonde vigilante catnip that it was?  
  
“Hey I just met you and this is crazy but I look like your Sara so love me maybe?” Yeah no. Also she was never letting Virgil touch her ipod ever again.  
  
Nyssa stared blankly at the control panel in front of her. Her first mission with the team had been successful. In fact she’d wager it wouldn’t have gone remotely as smoothly had she not come along. Vandal Savage had somehow gotten his hands on some 22nd century tech and had used it to build a giant mass driver in an attempt to take the world hostage. The Justice League of this world had foiled his plot in fact Wonder Woman seemed to take a particular interest. However, Rip wanted the team to remove any of the futuristic components from this timeline.  
  
Removing any remnants from orbit and from military instillations in Kasnia had been simple enough, however Rip suspected Savage had other components stashed away as a backup. This is where Nyssa came in. Vandal Savage was a rival of sorts of her father. The extremely long lived tended to keep a watchful eye on one another. Ra’s believed it was a given that Savage would eventually decide that there could be only one immortal left standing to rule the world. Predictably this caution extended to this world’s incarnation of the Demon’s Head. A quick side trip to a League of Assassin’s safe house in the Kasnian capital and Nyssa had the location of three of Savage’s known hideaways in this region. After that it was a simple bit of breaking and entering.  
  
It felt good to contribute to a team again. She was raised to be a leader of men and after her break with the League she had worked side by side with Laurel Lance for many years. Yet after three days of Mr. Palmer’s techno-babble she was quite ready to return home. The man in question was piloting their jet, while Yolanda slept in the cargo area behind them.  
  
Home? Could the Hub be home? She thought about one particular resident of the Hub and sighed. Sara had always been her home. Nyssa had rather embarrassed herself the last time they had spoken. She was so entirely frustrated with their situation, that when she overheard Sara tell Yolanda that Nyssa couldn’t take on this mission, she had exploded at her. She shouldn’t have taken her feelings of inadequacy out on Sara. She felt the way she felt. Nyssa couldn’t force a deeper relationship that Sara clearly didn’t want.  
  
“Do you want to talk about it?”  
  
“Excuse me?”  
  
Ray glanced over at Nyssa, “Do you want to talk about whatever has you staring at that screen like you are two seconds away from putting an arrow through it? Which please don’t because it will take me three hours to replace it and I’d rather take a nap when we get back.”  
  
“Your precious console is in no danger from me Mr. Palmer.”  
  
“So that’s a no?” He hit a few buttons on the screen in front of him and then turned his seat so that he was facing Nyssa completely. “Come on, I’ve been told I’m a good listener. Besides we still have three hours left and hearing you talk is better than listening to Yolanda snore.” Nyssa remained silent.  
  
“If you’re not going to give me a hint I’ll have to guess.” Ray tapped his chin as if deep in thought. “She’s about 5’6 “has a penchant for leather pants and beating up bad guys?”  
  
Nyssa sighed, “You are quite maddening.”  
  
“Funny, you’re not the first person to tell me that.”  
  
“I’ll bet.”  
  
“You know if my Anna suddenly walked through the door it would knock me for a loop.”  
  
“You have a gift for understatement.”  
  
“Hear me out.” Nyssa gestured for him to continue. He was correct this was slightly better than listening to Yolanda’s impression of a buzz saw. “If I saw Anna again, but she was from a different place, a different time, while I’d be over stuffed with joy at her being back in my life I’d also be a little afraid.”  
  
Nyssa nodded, loathe as she was it admit it, she was afraid. Fear and her inability to properly process it outside of a battlefield had contributed to her outburst. She could recognize the truth to Mr. Palmer’s statement.  
  
“I’d have a lot of questions. She died but I went on, what if she didn’t like the choices I made after she was gone? What if the man she knew was too different from the man I am? She died right in front of me and I couldn’t do anything to stop it. What if she was angry with me for letting her die?” This was all reasonable to Nyssa. She had asked herself similar questions the last few months.  
  
“But I think she would be afraid too. My Anna died. What if she thought that this version of her couldn’t measure up to my memory of her? Would I be angry at her for leaving me? Worse yet, what if I had moved on?” This brought Nyssa up short. She had assumed that Sara’s reluctance to address their somewhat shared past lay in some fault of Nyssa’s. Had she truly not considered that it could all be boiled down to fear on both their parts?  
  
“Do you,” Nyssa cleared her throat, “Do you believe that you and Anna would be able to eventually overcome these fears?”  
  
Ray shrugged. “I believe that what makes me Ray Palmer, deep down in here.” He tapped his chest. “Is the same no matter what world I come from. That I have the same spirit inside me as the guy Anna loved. If I could show her that the core of me was the same, no matter whether I was just a businessman or someone who builds body armor and flies through the air on a regular basis, I think eventually we’d be okay. But we’d actually have to talk about it. That would be rough,” He grinned. “You know how we heroic types hate talking.”  
  
“Yes, you clearly abhor the sound of your own voice,” Nyssa replied.  
  
“Well, not all of us have sexy, vaguely British accents.”  
  
Nyssa smiled, “It is most unfortunate for you.”  
  
“A true tragedy Nyssa, do you know how many girls I could have picked up in college with an accent like that? You should give lessons.”  
  
They laughed so loud at that they managed to wake a very disgruntled Yolanda from her nap. For the first time since her argument with Sara, Nyssa felt like there was hope for her cause. She could make a place for herself here. Perhaps she could have a place at this Sara’s side as well.  
  
After their debriefing with Mr. Hunter, Nyssa strode to her quarters with renewed purpose. She would shower, washing off the slightly singed electronic smell she had acquired over the past few days and then go and find Sara. They were long overdue for a talk. She had to convince Sara to give her a chance to prove herself. Yet when the door to her quarters opened she found that she would have to amend those plans.  
  
Sara looked up from her spot on Nyssa’s couch when the door opened. “Hey.” She called. Nyssa blinked at her for a moment and then continued into the room, the door sliding shut behind her with a soft click. “I hope you don’t mind the intrusion but I wanted to see you.”  
  
“You are always welcome in my home, I hope you know that,” Nyssa replied.  
  
Sara smiled slightly. This was a promising start. “I don’t like where we left things the other day.”  
  
“Nor do I,” Nyssa set her bow and quiver down by the door.  
  
“I think I’ve made a mistake.”  
  
Nyssa rushed forward. “Sara I,” Sara raised a hand to stop Nyssa from saying anything further.  
  
“Let me finish.” Nyssa nodded. “I made a mistake waiting so long to talk to you about our situation. I just plucked you from your home and assumed everything would be a-ok as long as I didn’t try to tread into any deep emotional waters.”  
  
“To be fair I did not attempt to go any deeper with you either.”  
  
“Yes, but of the two of us I’m supposed to be the slightly less emotionally retarded one.”  
  
Nyssa smiled and took a seat across from Sara. “Indeed.”  
  
“I’ve been looking at you and my Nyssa as separate people and you are but you aren’t if you know what I mean.”  
  
“I do.”  
  
“You have the same fire the same drive.”  
  
Nyssa smiled, “You have the same way of making me feel like I am more than what my father raised me to be.”  
  
“You are. You are so much more.”  
  
Nyssa swallowed. Sara was saying very encouraging things but she still had her doubts. “But am I enough? She left,” Nyssa didn’t have to elaborate on who she was, “What if I do something to cause you to?”  
“Never,” Sara cut her off. “Do you know why I stayed with the League when the earthquake happened in my timeline?”  
  
“Mr. Palmer gave me a brief synopsis of our divergent paths but I confess I didn’t ask for many details.”  
  
Sara nodded. It had taken her weeks to get up the nerve to read Nyssa’s file. “I was ready to go. Had a bag packed and everything. I decided to climb up to the top of the temple to take one last look at the stars you loved so much when I ran into your sister.”  
  
“Sister? I have no sister.”  
  
“You do where I’m from. Talia Al Ghul. She’s kind of a bitch. We never really got along. But that night when I was ready to give up on our life she was actually kind to me. I don’t know how she knew what I had planned but she stopped me. She told me that she could understand my fear for my family, but that if I gave you a chance that my new family would help me take care of my old one. She set a pair of plane tickets for the next afternoon on the railing beside me and then walked away. I went back to our rooms and asked you to leave with me the next day.”  
  
Nyssa shook her head, “My father would have never allowed that.”  
  
“Talia took care of it. She had my Nyssa’s back. You didn’t have that. You grew up more alone than I can even imagine. No one was there to force your Sara to take a moment to breathe and look at things logically. So she acted on a knee jerk instinct like we sometimes do and made the wrong choice.” Sara placed her hand on Nyssa’s knee. “I’m sure she regretted it the moment she stepped outside of the city gates.  
“It was never about something wrong with you Nyssa. It was always about me.”  
  
Nyssa stood and moved away, “You can’t know that for sure.” It was difficult to let go of her doubts.  
  
“I do know that. We made different choices but I’m her, she’s me. There is no way that I would ever look at you and find you lacking in anyway.” Sara stood and moved behind Nyssa. “You are everything I loved about her.”  
  
“Loved?” Nyssa glanced back at Sara over her shoulder.  
  
“Yeah that’s the thing,” Sara rubbed the back of her head, “I loved her but being here watching you, spending time with you these last few months, I think I love you.” Nyssa turned and stared at her. “No, I know I love you. I think that no matter what world if there is a Sara and a Nyssa then they are meant to be together. We’re meant to be. Do you think you could ever feel,” Sara’s question was cut off as Nyssa practically tackled her in her haste to bring their lips together.  
  
When they finally separated many minutes later Sara laughed. Nyssa still thought it was the most beautiful sound in the world. “So I guess that means you’ll have dinner with me tonight?”  
  
“Whatever you wish Ta-er al-asfer.”  
  
Sara smiled softly at Nyssa’s use of Arabic. “I missed that.”  
  
“I shall endeavor to make sure you never have to miss it again.”  
  
“I’d like that.” Sara smiled and kissed Nyssa again just because she could.  
  
A few months later found them in the cargo hold of one of the larger jets. “Laurel and your dad? Seriously?”  
  
“We’ve been over this a great many times since I returned beloved. Why does it trouble you so?”  
  
“Oh I don’t know. You went to a world where my mom was the original Black Canary. Years later Laurel took over, had a messy break up with Ollie.” She chuckled, “No surprises there. Then Laurel joined a lady vigilante team with Helena Bertinelli of all people.”  
  
“Helena is a far different person in that place, you need not fear for your sister with her.”  
  
“Of course not because the scary thing there is that my sister is sleeping with your dad. Your dad. And you said he’s extra old in that world. Oh god I just threw up in my mouth a little.”  
Nyssa laughed, “You do recall that I am older than you?”  
  
“But you’re like my sexy, older temptress. And not evil like your dad, who my sister is boinking.”  
  
“She seemed content if that helps matters any.”  
  
Sara frowned, “Not really but I love you for trying.” She kissed Nyssa’s cheek. “Do you think they’re happy?”  
  
“I just said,” Nyssa huffed.  
  
“No not sleeps with creepy old guys Laurel.” Nyssa swatted Sara’s arm for that. Sara looked down at their feet. “Our Laurels, the ones we left behind.”  
  
Nyssa gently took Sara’s chin causing her to meet her gaze. “No matter what world we find her, Dina Laurel Lance is a survivor. As are we my love.” Sara smiled and leaned up for a kiss.  
  
“Canary, Blackbird, wheels up in three. Universe in peril blah, blah. Stop making out and let’s go.” Cold called to them, as he secured the last of his equipment in the cargo hold.  
  
Reluctantly Sara pulled away. “Have I mentioned that I hate that guy?”  
  
“Don’t make me thrash you again Mr. Snart,”Nyssa warned.  
  
“Oh sorry. Princess would you mind assing these seats at your earliest convenience?” Cold replied sketching out a rough bow before turning to join Ray in the cockpit.  
  
“Can you still thrash him later just for fun?”  
  
“Whatever you wish Sara.”  
  
Rip shut down the monitor as the jet finally taxied out of the hangar. “Your little gamble paid off.” Professor Stein remarked over his shoulder.  
  
“I know a safe bet when I see one.”  
  
“What I don’t understand is why you did this in the first place. We’ve all lost someone. Why is this situation so different?”  
  
“We needed the extra manpower.” Stein scoffed at that answer. Rip shrugged and decided to go with the truth, “Sara needed a win. She deserved one. They both did.”  
  
“Ah never pegged you for a romantic Rip.”  
  
“My friends bring it out in me. You up for coffee? It’ll be a while before they reach the rendezvous point.”  
  
“And Nyssa made those cookies yesterday.” For a trained assassin the woman was surprisingly adept at making pastries.  
  
“See my plans have all kinds of added benefits.” For the moment all was right with the world.


End file.
